White Knight
by Michelle Clover
Summary: Another Fluffy present for the Santa exchange. Cullen knows that his feelings for Marian Hawke are wrong. She is an apostate and he is Knight Captain of Kirkwall's templars. But when Hawke invites him to dinner, he can no longer hide his feelings for the mage who has captured his heart. More chapters possible at a later date.


**A/N- As always, Bioware owns all.**

Cullen's heart skipped a beat when he saw Hawke walk through the gates with three of her companions. He hoped against all hope that she would come over to speak to him. Most every time she visited the Gallows, she would start up a conversation with him, which was something the templar looked forward to.

He knew very well that she was a mage, an apostate, but it didn't matter. For some reason, he just couldn't get her out of his mind. She reminded him a bit of the apprentice he had developed feelings for back in Circle Tower in Ferelden, but she was so much more. From the first moment he met her out on the Wounded Coast while he was attempting to question a rogue recruit, she had captivated his senses. Her deadly beauty and her grace were beyond anything he had ever witnessed before. The way she moved, the way she spoke, everything about her alit feelings within him the like of which he had never known. Over the previous three years, he found himself volunteering to do menial tasks within the city just to have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of her. He spent a lot of time in the Viscount's Keep coordinating duties between the templars and the city guard with the Guard Captain on the off chance that Hawke would visit her friend. He wanted so much to tell her how he felt, but he just couldn't do it. So he chose to suffer his longing for her in silent admiration.

He watched as she spoke to her friends and then left them behind as she approached him. Cullen shifted his weight from one foot to the other, began to fidget and then stopped before she came too close to notice.

"Good afternoon, Ser Cullen" she greeted him with a warm smile. "How is my favorite templar on this fine summer's day?"

"Serah Hawke" he replied with a boyish, lopsided grin. "I'm faring well, all things considered. I haven't seen you in quite a while. What have you been up to? Staying out of trouble, I hope?"

She chuckled. "You know me, Cullen, even when I try to stay out of trouble, it finds me eventually."

"So what brings you to the Gallows today? If you don't mind my asking, that is."

"Actually, as it so happens, I came to see you."

The templar's head jerked back in surprise. "Me? Whatever for?"

"Well, I was just wondering…" She paused for several moments as if she was trying to find the right words to say. She took a few steps closer to him leaving only a few inches between their bodies. The smell of her perfume, the warmth radiating from her body, her blue-green eyes shining up at him all served to make him feel rather faint. He swallowed past the lump in his throat as she continued in a low voice. "I don't really feel comfortable talking here. Would you mind coming round to my place for supper this evening so we can talk?"

"Of course," he breathed. "But I'm afraid it will have to be a rather late meal. My personal time does not begin until eight thirty."

"Then shall we say nine o'clock?"

He nodded. "Better make it nine thirty, if that is alright. I will need some time to change out of my uniform."

"Nine thirty it is then." Hawke took a step back and gave him a small bow of her head. "I am looking forward to it."

"As am I" he said, returning her gesture.

Cullen remained in his office for the last two hours of his duty, but the moment the small clock on the mantle showed eight twenty, he quickly straightened his desk and headed for his private room in the barracks. After hurriedly washing up, he opened his wardrobe to dress and sighed. It had been entirely too long since he had the occasion to leave the Gallows in anything but his uniform and he found himself at a loss at what to wear. In the end, he chose a pair of charcoal grey trousers with matching tunic and a black shirt, boots and belt. He only hoped it was presentable enough as he splashed on a bit of cologne and ran a comb through his thick, wavy hair.

As he stood there checking his reflection in the looking glass, the thought occurred to him that he should take something to give to Hawke. After all, that is what normal people did when they were invited to dinner at someone's home. At first, he considered buying flowers from one of the beggars who sold them in Lowtown, but on further contemplation, he decided against it. He needed something else, something that did not have romantic indications. Then he remembered a bottle of wine that he had purchased years before in celebration of his new post as Knight-Captain but never opened. Cullen didn't like to drink alone and he never found anyone to share the bottle with, until that night it seemed. He grabbed the bottle from a box beneath his bed and headed for the docks hoping that Meredith or one of the other officers would not notice him. Luckily, Meredith was nowhere to be seen and the rest of the templars didn't seem to recognize him out of uniform so he was able to slip out of the Gallows and onto the ferry without incident.

When Cullen arrived at Hawke's Hightown estate, he drew a deep breath before pulling the chain that would announce his presence. A few minutes later, he was greeted by an older dwarf sporting a huge grin. "Welcome, messere" he said, flourishing a low bow. "My mistress has been expecting you." Once Cullen entered and the door had been closed behind him, the dwarf led the templar through the entryway into the main room of the house. He took the bottle from Cullen's hand and said, "Mistress Hawke will be down momentarily. Please make yourself comfortable."

Just as Cullen was getting ready to take a seat on the overstuffed sofa in front of the fireplace, he heard Hawke's voice coming from the top of the stairs. "Good evening, Knight-Captain. I'm so glad you could make it."

Cullen had to stop himself from letting out a whistle as he looked up and saw Hawke descending the staircase. She was dressed in an emerald green satin dress that left little to the imagination. It clung to her curves perfectly and the front was cut low, revealing a great deal of her ample cleavage. Even though the hem nearly touched the top of her matching high heeled shoes, the slits up the sides didn't stop until they reached her upper thighs. Suddenly, the templar began to feel very self-conscious about his own appearance. Hawke, however seemed to have a differing opinion.

"My, but don't you look dashing this evening" she observed with an approving smile.

"Compared to you, milady, I fear that my appearance is rather on the shabby side."

She waved her hand in dismissal. "What? This old thing? It's been in my wardrobe for ages. I've just never had the occasion to take it out…until tonight that is."

When she reached the bottom of the staircase, Cullen couldn't stop himself from taking her hand and giving it a gentle kiss. He was surprised to see her face flush at the gesture and she gave a small cough to clear her throat. "Yes…well…anyway, supper awaits us." She indicated to an archway beneath the balcony. "I neglected to ask you what you might want for dinner so I had Bodahn prepare some traditional Ferelden dishes. I hope that is agreeable to you."

After Cullen helped Hawke into her chair and sat down next to her, he answered, "That is perfect, actually. I haven't had Ferelden food in many years and I must admit, I have missed it."

"Well then, I guess you're in for a treat. Bodahn is an excellent cook."

Their conversation remained lighthearted throughout dinner and Cullen found himself taken in by Hawke's charm and beauty more than ever before. Her easy laughter was almost melodic and the intensity of her aquamarine eyes was absolutely bewitching. They remained at the table talking well after the dishes had been cleared away and were in the middle of their second bottle of wine when Bodahn entered the room with a distressed frown.

"I do hate to disturb you, Mistress, but I think there is something in the kitchen that you will want to see."

"Anything I can help with?" Cullen asked.

After finding her feet, Hawke placed a hand on his shoulder and beamed down at him. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. I'll be right back."

"Just give a yell if you need me" he offered.

After nearly fifteen minutes of sitting in the dining room alone drinking, Cullen began to wonder what could possibly be taking Hawke so long. Maybe she needed his help after all. He made his way to the door leading to the kitchen and had opened it just a crack when he heard angry voices on the other side.

"I don't trust him, Hawke. He is a templar after all."

"I really don't care if you trust him or not, Anders. I do. Cullen is a good man."

"And why in the Maker's name are you wearing that dress?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but maybe I just wanted to make a good impression."

"Or maybe you're looking to take a templar to your bed."

"I'm not discussing this any further with you Anders. You need to go so I can get back to my guest."

"But…"

"I told you I would take care of things. Whatever else I do is my affair. Now get out of here before I have you hauled out."

When Cullen recognized the sound of Hawke's footsteps headed toward him, he hurried back to his seat. When she reentered the room he asked, "So is everything okay?"

"Yes" she nodded. "Just an unexpected visitor."

"Your apostate friend?"

Hawke sighed and ran the tip of her index finger around her wine glass. "He's part of the reason I asked you to come tonight. Anders has some…issues, yes, but he is a decent man. He helps a lot of the refugees in the Undercity. He told me that there have been several templars poking around in Darktown lately…"

Cullen's heart sank, he should have known that Hawke had ulterior motives behind her invitation. "And you wanted to ask me to make them stop?"

"If there is any way possible. It would mean a great deal to me and I would be in your debt."

Unable to look into her eyes, Cullen nodded. "As long as the Knight-Commander doesn't get a wild bug up her ass and decide to investigate Darktown for herself, your friend has nothing to worry about. I have made sure over these past three years that the templars leave him alone."

Hawke seemed genuinely surprised by his words. "Really? But why?"

The Knight-Captain shrugged. Normally, he would have been able to come up with some kind of plausible excuse for his behavior, but the wine had taken its toll. He didn't want to make excuses. He wanted to tell Hawke the truth. "Because I know he is a friend of yours and I know that arresting him and throwing him in the Gallows would hurt you. I would never do anything that would hurt you, milady" he said in a whisper.

The dark-haired mage remained silent as her gaze turned thoughtful. Cullen's green eyes widened when he realized what he had just done and his face brightened. His wine imbibed haze suddenly lifted and he wanted nothing more at that moment than to retreat back to the Gallows. It was never his intention to reveal his hidden feelings to her. He stood and gave a small bow.

"The hour is late and I must be getting back" he mumbled and without even waiting for a response from her, he hurried to the front door. Just as he touched the handle, he felt Hawke's delicate fingers touch his hand. He closed his eyes and felt her walk around him until they were face to face.

"Please don't go" she said quietly.

He sighed heavily before staring into her eyes. "I must."

Hawke shook her head with a smile. "No…you don't have to. I told you that Anders was part of the reason I invited you. It was actually only a small part. If truth be told, it was more an excuse to my friends than anything else. I wanted you to come because I…I wanted to get to know you, to spend time alone with you."

Cullen searched those blue-green orbs trying to discern if she was saying what he thought she was saying…if she was feeling the same thing that he was. After only a few seconds, he knew there was no mistaking it. There was definitely something between them. Slowly, he moved his lips forward until they made contact with hers. He felt a small spark of electricity the moment they touched and he pulled her in closer to savor the taste of her kiss. The feeling it gave him was better than anything Cullen had ever known. Having her in his arms simply felt right. It felt perfect.

* * *

The moment that Cullen's lips touched hers, Marian Hawke knew in her heart that he was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. So many times over the past three years, she would find any excuse to go to the Gallows just so she could see him. Every time she would spot him in the city doing one duty or another for the templars, her stomach felt as if it was filled with a thousand butterflies causing her to grin from ear to ear, prompting Varric to ask exactly how big was the canary that she swallowed. She also visited Aveline more times than she should have because she knew that Cullen might be there. But she could never reveal her secret desires to anyone. Her friends would not understand, especially not Anders.

The former Grey Warden had grown even more paranoid over the past few years and his mistrust of templars had grown into complete and utter disdain. He believed that none of them could be trusted and that all of them wanted to make every mage in Thedas tranquil. Marian tried to reason with him, to tell him that lumping all templars together like that was the same as what people did to mages, but he would hear none of it.

Just that morning, Anders told her that the templars had been sniffing around Darktown and, even though he didn't think they were looking for him specifically, it was only a matter of time before they found him. She knew it was wicked of her, but Marian decided that she would use Anders' paranoia as an excuse to be alone with Cullen. She told her friend that she would invite Cullen to her home and convince the templar to leave him alone. In desperation to stay out of the Gallows, Anders reluctantly agreed.

When Cullen arrived, she planned to get around to talking to him about Anders, but wasn't in any kind of a hurry to do so. She was enjoying his company entirely too much to bring it up. When Anders showed up through the hidden entrance from Darktown, she had to fight back the urge to slug him for ruining what otherwise had been a perfect evening. But when Cullen revealed that he had been protecting Anders all along because of her, she found that she had never appreciated the mage's overprotectiveness more.

Cullen pulled away from her embrace. "I don't know how this will ever work, but I am more than willing to give it a try…if you want to that is."

She grinned and nodded. "Of course I want to. I've never wanted anything more."

He kissed her again and Marian felt as if the bones of her legs had turned to jelly. She wanted nothing more than to stay there in his arms for all of eternity. She felt more alive than she ever had before. When he finally broke away from her again, he ran his fingers through her hair and gazed into her eyes for a long moment.

"I need to get back to the Gallows before I am missed."

"Must you? I was rather hoping you would stay…for the night."

He pressed his forehead to hers, his breathing ragged and labored. "Nothing would please me more than to stay, Marian, but I cannot. If we are to be together, we will need to be careful."

"You're right, of course" she agreed reluctantly.

"I will be at the Chantry tomorrow evening. Will you meet me there?" She nodded and he kissed her lips one final time. "Is it too soon…" he whispered into her ear, "to tell you that I love you?"

"Only if it is too soon for me to tell you the same" she replied.

His lips touched her cheek softly and he murmured, "Until tomorrow evening, then" before turning the handle of the door and stepping out into the waiting night.


End file.
